So you want to bet on MMA? If you are reading this, then you are off to a good start! Wagering on mixed martial arts fights has been a full time hobby for me for the past two years. In the beginning, my thought process was “since I love the sport of MMA so much and spend so much time on MMA blogs and forums, let’s see if I can make some money off of my knowledge”. I started out with nothing but my knowledge of MMA…no prior sports betting experience whatsoever. Without any kind of guidance, I made many mistakes and lost a good amount of money in the beginning. I made several beginner mistakes from only betting on one sports book to utilizing my bankroll foolishly.

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was to read MMAJunkie’s “Wagering Guide” series. Their in-depth betting guide made me a better bettor, and I strongly suggest taking some time to read it if you are serious about MMA wagering. Most people would think I’m crazy to link to another betting guide in my own betting guide, but differing viewpoints and opinions can never be a bad thing.

I decided to write my own betting guide to help out new MMA bettors. I don’t want MMA betting novices to make the same mistakes I’ve made. In this guide, I will cover everything from the reasons I bet on MMA to budgeting your bankroll properly. I hope my wagering guide gives new MMA bettors some guidance in their future betting endeavors. In addition, I hope that it serves as an interesting, fresh viewpoint to those experienced MMA bettors. Without further adieu, here is my 7 part MMA wagering guide.

1. Why bet on MMA?

I bet on mixed martial arts for 3 reasons. First and foremost, I bet on MMA because I want to make money. You will get this response from any honest sports bettor. Whether you are looking to make hundreds of dollars per month or just enough to cover rising pay per view prices, betting on MMA is a hobby that can be very lucrative.

Secondly, I bet on mixed martial arts to become a better MMA fan. Betting on MMA forces you to know everything about MMA: promotions, fighters, martial arts disciplines etc. In your wagering process, you will learn fighters’ strengths, weaknesses, tendencies and capabilities. You will know who the best up and comers are. You will know the fighters who are past their prime. You will know which fighters cannot defend a takedown properly, as well as the fighters who don’t check leg kicks. MMA wagering forces you to pay attention to detail and retain information.

Lastly, betting on MMA makes mixed martial arts more exciting. Having money on a certain fighter will give you added excitement for that particular event and fight. Like anything else, if you have a financial or emotional investment in something it will matter more. Betting on MMA has given me something to look forward to every month. Investing your own money in MMA makes you care about it more…plain and simple. If I have convinced you to give MMA betting a try, let’s start at the beginning.

2. Reading and converting MMA lines

MMA lines are the basis of MMA wagering. Most sports books use American odds, sometimes called a “money line” (now you understand the clever name for the website). These arbitrary numbers look like a foreign language to those unfamiliar with sports betting, but allow me to explain them to you.

Generally, an MMA fight “line” will look like this:

In most MMA fights, there will be a favorite and an underdog. Two fighters can be evenly matched in sports books, but it is rare. The favorite will have a negative (-) number, while the underdog will have a positive (+) number. In this case, Brock Lesnar is the favorite and Frank Mir is the underdog. Now onto the numbers…

MMA money lines are based on units of $100. If the favorite is -225, it means that you have to wager $225 to win $100. In this case, if you bet $225 on Brock Lesnar and he wins, you will win $100 to give you $325 total. The same ratio goes for any wager.

When you are betting on an underdog, the formula is different. If the underdog is at +185, it means that if you wager $100 you will win $185. For example, if you bet $100 on Frank Mir and he is victorious, you will win $185 in addition to the original $100 bet. Like a favorite bet, the same ratio goes for any wager amount. You don’t have to bet increments of $100, you can wager whatever amount you feel comfortable with.

Converting a money line is the process of changing a line (-225) into a percentage (69%). Converting money lines into percentages is a great way to simplify complicated odds. Using the Lesnar/Mir example, converting their lines will give you the following:

These percentages will give you a much better view of what the odds are really saying. This particular line is saying that Brock Lesnar wins this fight 69% of the time, while Mir is victorious 35% of the time. The odds will never add up to 100% because the difference is the sports book’s commission.

Converting a money line into a percent is as easy as two formulas. If you want to convert a favorite’s money line into a percent, use this formula:

If you are converting Brock Lesnar’s current odds, the formula will look like this:

Feel free to round the number off (69%) for ease of use.

If you are converting an underdog’s line to a percent, the formula is a little bit different. This is the formula to use for underdog conversion:

If you are converting Frank Mir’s current odds, the formula will look like this:

Once again, I suggest rounding the %(35%) for convenience.

Now that you can read and convert MMA money lines, there are two additional things to keep in mind. Occasionally, there are fights in which both of the fighters have favorite’s (-) lines. For example, the current line on Bookmaker lists Mike Brown at -105 and Urijah Faber at -125 for their WEC Featherweight Championship bout. In this case, the fighter with the larger number is still the favorite, but both fighters have over a 50% chance of winning the fight.

Additionally, MMA money lines are not set in stone. These odds will shift as bettors place bets. Sports books want the lines to be as accurate as possible, so they will change them accordingly if a good amount of money is coming in on a certain fighter. This is why it is important to stay on top of current betting lines and odds.

Congratulations, you know everything you need to know about MMA money lines. The next step of the betting process is the most interesting and tedious part of your journey: research.

3. Researching fighters

Like any purchase, you have to do research to be sure you are making a wise investment. You would never buy a car without test driving it first. You would never buy a pair of jeans without trying them on. This same logic goes for MMA betting.

Doing proper research is what allows you to be a successful MMA bettor. Bettors who don’t do research are generally unsuccessful. If they are successful, it is by sheer luck. MMA betting is all about finding an edge and capitalizing on it. These opportunities are found through thorough research.

There are several ways to research a fighter. The first step is to check out the fighter’s record. If you click on a fighter’s name on MMAMoneyLine, it will bring up the fighter’s profile. You can also access a fighter’s profile on the “MMA Fighters” page. These individual fighter profiles give you the fighter’s record, methods of victory, methods of defeat and results of their 5 most recent fights. This information is the basis of a particular mixed martial artist’s abilities.

You can generally tell by a fighter’s record what his or her strengths or weaknesses are. For example, Wanderlei Silva‘s record is 32-9-1. In his 32 victories, 23 have come by KO or TKO, 3 have come by submission and 6 by decision. This simple piece of information tells me, even if I didn’t know who Wanderlei Silva was, that he is a striking threat.

Conversely, his losses (5 KO, 4 DEC) would tell me two things: he can be knocked out and he is difficult to submit. Of course, a fighter’s win-loss record isn’t going to give you the full picture, but it is a good start.

In addition to a fighter’s profile, you want to know the competition that he has faced. Someone like Wanderlei Silva has faced some of the best mixed martial artists in his weight class in Pride FC and the UFC. Because of this, his losses mean less than they would for someone else. If a fighter is just breaking in to the UFC or another major MMA promotion, his record will likely be filled with fights against less experienced, less well-rounded fighters. Wanderlei Silva’s 32-9-1 is much different than a newcomer’s 9-1-0 record.

You should also be very assertive as far as watching a fighter’s past fights, as well as keeping up on any breaking news about a fighter. You can learn a lot about watching a fighter’s past fights. There are several terrific fight video resources on the Internet: MMAScraps, YouTube and the UFC Vault are a few of my favorites. If you were to watch Brock Lesnar’s fight against Frank Mir, you would see much more than just the loss on his record. Lesnar dominated that fight until Mir caught him in a kneebar. This could make you think differently of that particular loss.

Keeping a finger on the pulse of the MMA world is a very smart move for any MMA bettor. I read MMA blogs like MMAJunkie, MMAMania, CagePotato, FightLinker, BloodyElbow, MMAConvert, FiveOuncesOfPain, MMAWeekly and Sherdog daily. These blogs give you up to the minute information on fighters, promotions, events and fighter’s training camps. You can never have too much information about a fighter, and reading these MMA blogs in addition to watching past fights will give you a very solid profile of a certain fighter. Having a thorough profile of two fighters will help you set an accurate line for a fight.

4. Setting your own line

Setting your own line for a fight is the ultimate goal for all of your research. After crunching all of the numbers, watching all of the video and running all of the possible scenarios through your head, the end product is going to be a line set by you, the bettor. There are several different ways bettors set lines for a fight, but since this is my guide I strongly suggest setting your line the following way.

Simply ask yourself this question: if fighter one and fighter two were to fight 20 times, how many times would fighter 1 win? If your research tells you that fighter one wins the fight 12 times out of 20, then a simple calculation of 12/20 gives you 60%. Compare your set line percentage to several sports books’ line percentages to find a possible edge. For example, if you think Brock Lesnar beats Frank Mir 15 times out of 20 (85%) and sports books are giving Lesnar a line of -225 (69%), there is a significant edge there.

Same logic goes for underdogs. If you think Frank Mir’s high level submissions are going to be too difficult for Lesnar to defend, and you have Mir winning this fight 10 times out of 20 (50%) you are getting good value on a +185 (35%) line. Successful MMA betting is all about taking advantage of small edges. However, just because you believe one line favors you doesn’t mean you should jump on it immediately. You should shop around for the best line first.

5. Line shopping

The importance of line shopping cannot be overstated. Line shopping can be the difference between a good MMA bettor and a great MMA bettor. Line shopping is the act of following different sports books and identifying the most beneficial line. Like any other purchase, you should shop around for the best price and value before you commit. This strategy is essential for long term, successful MMA wagering.

If you look at the front page of MMAMoneyLine, you will see odds from 10 different sports books. At the time of writing this, Brock Lesnar’s most favorable odds are -225 (69%) at Sportsbook, and his least favorable odds are -275 (73%) at BetUS. If you have identified Brock Lesnar to be a good play at anything below 75%, both of these lines are favorable. However, there is a substantial difference in value when comparing these 2 lines. Your bet will bring you a higher return on Sportsbook than on BetUS.

Keeping track of the best available lines for each fighter is one of the best pieces of advice I can give to a MMA wagering beginner. I would also suggest having available funds on at least 3 different sports books. The last thing you want to happen is to get a really good edge on a fight only to get the worst odds because you have all of your money on one sports book. Since most sports books have fairly reasonable minimum deposits, it is wise to “diversify your portfolio” so to speak.

6. Record keeping

Record keeping is the best way to keep track of not only your current available funds, but also your betting patterns. The spreadsheet I currently use can be found in the “Betting Tools” section of MMAMoneyLine. I strongly urge all MMA bettors to keep a detailed log of all of their past wagers. Looking back through your past wagers can help you identify which betting strategies have been the most successful for you.

For example, if you have a record of 11-9 when betting on favorites and a record of 4-1 when betting on underdogs, you may want to pay more attention to underdog plays. Also, if you are 22-9 in UFC fights and 4-6 in WEC fights, perhaps you need to do more research when betting on World Extreme Cagefighting matches.

Keeping detailed records also gives you the opportunity to store your various user names and passwords for different sports books. If you have different log ins and passwords for different books, it can get very confusing. You don’t want to be e-mailing your sports book several times asking for a password reset because you forgot it.

7. Budgeting your bankroll

Another major benefit for keeping detailed records is having total control over your current bankroll. A bettor’s bankroll is the amount of money he or she has available and currently in play spread over various sports books. Your bankroll is very important because it tells you how much you have to risk at any one time.

A major fault of the novice sports bettor is using your bankroll unwisely. Don’t bet your entire available balance on one fight. Don’t bet your entire available balance on two fights. It is very important to use your available balance as a long term tool. If you have $200 on 5Dimes, don’t bet $100 on one fighter. I wouldn’t even come close to betting $50 on one fighter unless it was an extenuating circumstance. The total size of your bankroll will dictate the amounts of your individual bets.

Use your bankroll to incrementally gain. As your bankroll grows, the size of your bets can grow. A solid rule of thumb is to stay below 5% of your payroll on any one fight. If you are betting on a heavy favorite, the % can be more towards 5%. However, unless you have a rock solid tip on an underdog, keep underdog bets in the 1-2% range. Most sports bettors use the “unit” system, with each unit standing as 1-2% of their total bankroll.

Now that you know how to read and convert money lines, how to research fights, how to set your own lines, understand the benefit of line shopping and realize the importance of record keeping and bankroll management, you are all set to start betting on MMA fights. Good luck and enjoy your new hobby.